Although, I have to add that this is something like what I was trying to do with Dimentia 13 (altho MGMT does it sooo much better). Just sample this from the first Dimentia 13 LP.

I don't have a whole lot of time for a report. We'll be on our way to Warsaw in just a few minutes. It's been raining like cats and dogs the whole time I've been in Poland. I know because I stepped in a poodle!

But seriously, folks, the rain has been so bad that a lot of the roads are washed out, trains are stopped, all sorts of chaos has ensued. But we made it to Katowice last night and had one of the best talks ever with the group from the Bodhidharma Zen Center. As usual with the talks that end up being good, this one was probably not recorded. The iPhone my host Slawek used to record it was acting weird the whole time. So maybe something made it on to the hard drive but probably not the whole talk.

Which is sad because you'll miss out hearing the crazy woman who came in, asked a few bizarre questions and then left in a huff when the answers I gave didn't satisfy her. She was very mystical and was apparently testing my ability to see Beyond The Beyond or some such thing.

After she left the discussion settled a bit. One of the questions I was asked concerned mistakes Westerners make in Zen. I get that one a lot. But last night, for some reason it sparked a memory from when I worked for Tsuburaya Productions.

Ultraman is one of the most incredibly simple designs in the world. Look:

It's very straight-forward and that's why it works and has become so iconic. Even 6 year old kids can draw Ultraman.

I have a friend, Hiroshi Maruyama, whose job it used to be to design the new Ultraman characters. He told me once that all he could ever do with that design was mess it up. It was perfect as it was. The only thing you could do was ruin the beautiful simplicity of it.

Here's one of the later Ultraman characters to give you an idea what he meant. This is actually not one of Maruyama's designs. His are a lot more successful. When they got to this character they had someone else work on it and all they did was add unnecessary shit on to what was already complete in and of itself. And this isn't even one of the worst. They'd add horns and noses and big ears and all kinds of crap.

I think this is what often happens with Western Zen. We seek to "improve" something that has already undergone thousands of years of refinement. All we can do is add extraneous garbage to something and ruin its original simplicity.

Zen is stupidly simple. It needs to remain stupidly simple.

We do this not only culturally, but in our own practice. At least I do! I'm always looking for something more complex to add to the practice. But it's fine just as it is. You don't need to explain it. You don't need to tack on a lot of pop psychological bullcrap. Just leave it be! Leave Britney alone! And leave Zazen alone!

Haha.. The Ultraman design was perfect as it was. That's funny Brad. Are you sure that isn't Ultrawoman? He has very nice boobs and he's hung like an Irishman. I don't get your 'beautiful simplicity of Ultraman' talk either. Just because you once worked for Tsuburaya Productions doesn't mean Ultraman is anything other than tacky.

That last post was kind of like a half thought... I tend to think half a conversation or thought in my head then speak/write the rest of the thought... mind reading anyone? lol

In any case, I'm on the 3rd reading of "Sit Down and Shut Up" and it seems particularly relevant to this post. For instance, even though Brad really "dumbs" down Dogen, meaning taking the crazy vocabulary and making it more contemporary and just explain the shit so I can understand it, I still have to read over and over...some of the concepts are like wtf??? But those things and zazen are pretty straightforward and direct.. At least sometimes I get that sense. Perhaps it's because I'm so used to thinking so much to solve things that I over think with zazen and make it much more complex than it really is too.

All I know is that when Brad talks about sitting (and to paraphrase) with the beginning full of back pain, leg pain, random thoughts running around and you just want to get up and scream or sing "Enter Sandman" at the top of your lungs... I know that feeling well.

Maybe it's because zazen is so direct, and I'm so used to listening to the bullshit in my head that doesn't even matter.

I think this is what often happens with Western Zen. We seek to "improve" something that has already undergone thousands of years of refinement. All we can do is add extraneous garbage to something and ruin its original simplicity.

Zen is stupidly simple. It needs to remain stupidly simple.

We do this not only culturally, but in our own practice. At least I do! I'm always looking for something more complex to add to the practice. But it's fine just as it is.

Brad, of course you can't not try to complicate it. Our brain is wired to try to find patterns, referents, "hooks" and structures for us to make sense of things. And of course it's all manifestations of what our mind makes up. It's the cerebrum's equivalent of a scratchy nose.

But I'll repeat a line I say often: your zazen shouldn't be only only on the cushion.

Re. Mumon's comment "But I'll repeat a line I say often: your zazen shouldn't be only only on the cushion."

I'm not so sure about that anymore. Sometimes I take my sitting zen out with me and forget that I'm standing. I've been leaving my zazen on the cushion lately, and it, as well as life, seem to be more fun (for now).

"The present unrestricted state of dignified behavior of acting buddha is restricted by the state of buddha, in which state, because the vigorous path of "dragging through the mud and staying in the water" has been mastered, there is no restriction," says Dogen (yup, I'm on Volume II, Chapter 23).

CAPTCHA: Ovenst (in Cliffside, NJ, we added nst to sarcastically negate something. If someone had a totally uncool oven, I guess we would say "Nice oven'st").

There is no point in thinking that a past did exist that we could have now. This is now. This very moment. Nothing mystical, just now, very simple, straight forward. And from that nowness, however, arises a sense of intelligence always that you are constantly interacting with reality one by one. Spot by spot. Constantly.

In musical taste, pop culture views, social/political commentary and what passes for his "Buddhist teaching", Brad's pretty lightweight and naive. Some may think of his treatment of Dogen as "simplifying for the masses", but really it is just shallow and dumbed down. Let's face it. People new to Zen like Brad, they like the book with the toilet on the cover, so it is not all bad. But there is no real meal beyond Brad's fast food drive through.

I absolutely do not get the sense that Brad's talking about any immediate gratification when he writes about Zen. In fact, he denounces the easy path as bullshit time and again. There are some things I connect with, e.g. the explanations of Hyakujo's fox or the Genjokoan (or the pay me $200 for instant satori.. kidding) among others where it's like oh wow, that's what he was saying? That's my personal experience at least, and that's what keeps me reading .. but to each their own. Unless their own of course is bullshit (unless you're a fly). hahahaha

Master and student are sitting around a fire.Master: "You are getting a great and important zen lesson now, so better listen closely and do exactly what I tell you: Set up the pot."

The diligent disciple takes out the pot and with the usual zen like attention to detail, fiddles around until it is perfectly straight (it's an important lesson after all!) and then turns to his master.

Master: "You fool, you did it wrong. Try again."

The student, worried about not having gotten the lesson, thinks about it."I'm dumb! Master wants to cook something, so I have to fill the pot with water!"The student runs to the river, fills the pot, sets it up above the fire in perfect alignment. The water filled pot stands with the quiet dignity of a stone in a zen garden.

The master topples it."Idiot, you are doing it wrong. Try again."

The whole scene repeats itself again and again. Even after preparing a whole meal, the zen master still is not happy."The soup was good, but you still did it all wrong."

Days go by, with the master constantly scolding his student for his continued bad performance.

One evening the student is fed up with all the bullshit."No matter what I do, it's not perfect enough for the old geezer."So he takes the pot out and just puts it on the fire.

I have been reflecting on how we complicate and fix Zen a great deal lately. The transmission ceremonies, the Soto and the Rinzai..., who is "authentic" and who is more authentic. It seems if you teach Zazen and avoid teaching things that are harmful, and try to guide the student from self delusion, then Zazen will unfold if the conditions are conducive. Myself, I am not convinced that Buddhism, religion, myths and other inspirations add value.

I can understand that someone who teaches would not support someone who they are working with to teach unless the person is considered "ready" and won't do harm.

We like our lives and ourselves to be heroic and interesting. Meanwhile, life is the taste of the inside of your mouth.

It's very simple, oh so simple. You are born out of the nothing. You grow, you get a job, get married and have kids maybe, you grow old and then you die and return to the nothing from whence you came. So what's the problem? There is no problem.

I'm currently reading Ending the Pursuit of Happiness by Barry Magid. He's saying in his book many of the same things Brad is saying from a slightly different perspective.

Magid says something like we don't do Zazen with some kind of aspiration or enlightened experience but to become aware of these "curative fantasies" or "secret practices," or the yearning for some kind of special experience of enlightenment, so we can let go and touch the ordinary present moment without all the "if only" thoughts about fixing ourselves. Simplicity. Nothing special. I like his method of being emotionally honest and accepting all of our stuff (longing, selfishness, anger, along with gratitude, compassion, etc) as a starting point to see what needs to be done moment by moment. Like Shunryu Suzuki said, "All of you are perfect just as you are, and you could use a little improvement."

"I think this is what often happens with Western Zen. We seek to "improve" something that has already undergone thousands of years of refinement. All we can do is add extraneous garbage to something and ruin its original simplicity."

I hope Brad doesn't mean that zen as transmitted to the west is some pristine form not to be tampered with. The chinese added all sorts of things to chan. Koans, for example. At some point the government insisted chan monks pray for military victory and emperor wellbeing. Before this petitionary prayer was unknown in chan. Baizhang added his rules and changed the sect completely by insisting monks should work for their upkeep instead of just begging as in the original Indian forms. Then during Sung times all sorts of ideas and practices from other sects were added to chan (zen). Zen students began to combine pureland chants with zazen. I'm not suggesting all of these things were improvements, but they were changes. The japanese also modified zen in all sorts of ways over the centuries. '

I see no reason to insist that all change should suddenly stop now that zen has come to 'the west'.Some changes may be good, others not so good. I think Brad has dropped many of the formalities and ceremonies associated with zen himself. Nishijima roshi has reinterpreted zazen along western physiological lines and this could be considered tampering with zen itself by some people. He and Brad's outright rejection of the rebirth doctrine would also be considered a radical change to traditonal zen. (one that I agree with btw) Brad seems down on 'western zen', but I see many healthy changes taking place as well as kooky complications.

That, Troy, was his main point, as I read it. The bit about "Western Zen" needing to remain "stupidly simple" refers to the practice of zazen, or 'Zen' for short. So I think you misunderstand. Partly Brad's fault. But mainly yours ;)

Point is, is it ok with you if Brad plays in a band, blogs, or appears on TV?...The point for you, not me - I don't care whether you approve or not :)

Zen demands that we resolve for ourselves the tension between maintaining what is traditional and authentic in its transmission and the need to constantly be adaptive and responsive to a changing world. We need to simultaneously see with our own eyes and look through the eyes of our ancestors.

................

When we read about how Zen has traditionally been practiced over the centuries in China and Japan, or even when we think about how the previous generation of teachers were trained, we must decide how much we can simply follow in their footsteps and where we need to branch off onto our own path. How much of Asian culture must we learn and assimilate in order to maintain a genuine connection to our spiritual ancestors? ...We likewise have to ask ourselves how much we view particular rigors of traditional monastic training as a means to and end, and end we might conceivably accomplish in different ways, and how much we see the forms of traditional practice as the very life of practice itself, a form of life that we cherish for its own sake. But if we practice from a stance of no gain, and practice is not a means to and end, can we conceive of practice manifesting itself in myriad forms, lay as well as monastic, as multiple and diverse as the lives of its practitioners?

............

My teacher felt her own traditional Zen training had taught her to treat emotions as an obstacle to practice; in her emotion instead the object of practice. Emotion, or its correlates in bodily tension, are not what we want to feel while meditating. We all inevitably want meditation to create an oasis of that - transiently, or course- but we may not realize that by achieving it, we have made our practice one-dimensional.

Joko always talked about sitting as building a bigger container, and what was contained was primarily emotion. She wanted the container of sitting to hold all the painful, messy, inconvenient things that we usually come to practice to get away from. We sit still with what we've come to avoid. Although the pain we may be most immediately aware of is the pain in out knees, everything we avoid is a a form of pain, and all are ultimately grounded in the pain of embodied impermanence.

Traditionally, staying with physical pain was the paradigm of non-avoidance. If we practice sitting still with physical pain it is no simply to build up our physical endurance, but to practice-, The problem was, it didn't generalize very well to emotional avoidance, and I believe it was Joko Becks's unique contribution to the development of American Zen to bring that part of practice very much into the foreground. She wanted us to be able to sit with the whole range of our emotional life, not just the whole range of physical sensation. She wanted us to be able to sit still with all the feelings that we don't usually want to feel and sit still with. What these are in particular will vary from person to person, and they cover full spectrum of emotional reactions and conflicts around anger, anxiety, sexuality, shame, dependency, and all the rest.

Zazen is not a technique. It is not a means to an end. It's not a way to become calmer, more confidant, or even "enlightened." Not that we can't be happy (or enlightened), it's just that we'll get there by a very different route than we once imagined - and it may not look anything like what we expected when we started out. ...........

The "uselessness" of true practice keeps it at odds with our various "secret practices," which always are covertly trying to assimilate meditation into one or another self-centered project. With a Zen of "no gain," we step outside of our usual realm of questions and answers, problems and solutions, of the endless treadmill of self-improvement and instead experience the completeness of our life as it already is.

"There were no blogs in Dogen's time. There was no YouTube when Sawaki was alive. There was no CNN, no punk rock bands nor even any bass guitars during Buddha's lifetime."

Thanks. You are so awesome and informative, Brad. Just watching you on YouTube makes me wet. And I'm not even a chick. I just get so excited I pee myself.

So master Dogen didn't have any opinion at all about cybersanghas? Was master Kodo opposed to Big Mind seminars? How did the Buddha view combining zazen with the Alexander technique? Did the Buddha often tell those he disliked to fuck-off? What are the pali words for fuck off anyway?

A social worker calls to the house of an 11 year-old kid who has been missing a lot of school lately. She rings the door bell and, a few minutes later, the kid answers in a silk smoking jacket with a big cigar in his mouth, he's holding a big glass of brandy, and there are two half naked hookers dancing around to techno music in the hallway.

If you meant that you couldn't stand the shitty music that is written in response to the garbage drugs that apparently kicked the wee pussy little asses 'o the masses, then I can see why this may be your current "favorite song." Otherwise, it blows ass.

Thanks John! I just finished Magid's book. It was super insightful. He really penetrates the heart of Sawaki's "Zazen is useless" statement and allowed me to consciously see many of the gaining ideas I've been sitting with even though I felt I was "just sitting."

A student, who worked with disabled children, asked Kobun Chino Roshi how she could best help the children. Kobun replied "No thought of helping."